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<a name="Terminology"></a>
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<p>
Next: <a href="Invoking-Stow.html#Invoking-Stow" accesskey="n" rel="next">Invoking Stow</a>, Previous: <a href="Introduction.html#Introduction" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Introduction</a>, Up: <a href="index.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">Top</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index.html#Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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<hr>
<a name="Terminology-1"></a>
<h2 class="chapter">2 Terminology</h2>

<p><a name="index-package"></a>
A <em>package</em> is a related collection of files and directories that
you wish to administer as a unit &mdash; e.g., Perl or Emacs &mdash; and that needs
to be installed in a particular directory structure &mdash; e.g., with
<samp>bin</samp>, <samp>lib</samp>, and <samp>man</samp> subdirectories.
</p>
<a name="index-target-directory"></a>
<p>A <em>target directory</em> is the root of a tree in which one or more
packages wish to <em>appear</em> to be installed.  A common, but by no
means the only such location is <samp>/usr/local</samp>.  The examples in this
manual will use <samp>/usr/local</samp> as the target directory.
</p>
<a name="index-stow-directory"></a>
<p>A <em>stow directory</em> is the root of a tree containing separate
packages in private subtrees.  When Stow runs, it uses the current
directory as the default stow directory.  The examples in this manual
will use <samp>/usr/local/stow</samp> as the stow directory, so that
individual packages will be, for example, <samp>/usr/local/stow/perl</samp>
and <samp>/usr/local/stow/emacs</samp>.
</p>
<a name="index-installation-image"></a>
<p>An <em>installation image</em> is the layout of files and directories
required by a package, relative to the target directory.  Thus, the
installation image for Perl includes: a <samp>bin</samp> directory containing
<samp>perl</samp> and <samp>a2p</samp> (among others); an <samp>info</samp> directory
containing Texinfo documentation; a <samp>lib/perl</samp> directory containing
Perl libraries; and a <samp>man/man1</samp> directory containing man pages.
</p>
<a name="index-package-directory"></a>
<a name="index-package-name"></a>
<p>A <em>package directory</em> is the root of a tree containing the
installation image for a particular package.  Each package directory
must reside in a stow directory &mdash; e.g., the package directory
<samp>/usr/local/stow/perl</samp> must reside in the stow directory
<samp>/usr/local/stow</samp>.  The <em>name</em> of a package is the name of its
directory within the stow directory &mdash; e.g., <samp>perl</samp>.
</p>
<p>Thus, the Perl executable might reside in
<samp>/usr/local/stow/perl/bin/perl</samp>, where <samp>/usr/local</samp> is the
target directory, <samp>/usr/local/stow</samp> is the stow directory,
<samp>/usr/local/stow/perl</samp> is the package directory, and
<samp>bin/perl</samp> within is part of the installation image.
</p>
<a name="index-symlink"></a>
<a name="index-relative-symlink"></a>
<a name="index-absolute-symlink"></a>
<p>A <em>symlink</em> is a symbolic link.  A symlink can be <em>relative</em> or
<em>absolute</em>.  An absolute symlink names a full path; that is, one
starting from <samp>/</samp>.  A relative symlink names a relative path; that
is, one not starting from <samp>/</samp>.  The target of a relative symlink is
computed starting from the symlink&rsquo;s own directory.  Stow only
creates relative symlinks.
</p>
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Next: <a href="Invoking-Stow.html#Invoking-Stow" accesskey="n" rel="next">Invoking Stow</a>, Previous: <a href="Introduction.html#Introduction" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Introduction</a>, Up: <a href="index.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">Top</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index.html#Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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